We need Ray, Ghatak kind of cinema for Cannes: Bhandarkar

Cannes, May 19 (IANS) Madhur Bhandarkar, who is here for the 72nd Cannes Film Festival, says Indian filmmakers need to create cinema focussing on real and "earthy" subjects to have visible representation at such platforms.

India has zero representation in terms of films at the competition categories of the Cannes Film Festival this year.

At the India Pavilion of the gala, Bhandarkar engaged in a conversation with filmmaker Rahul Rawail around the current state of Indian cinema and the way forward.

Bhandarkar, known for films like "Page 3", "Traffic Signal" and "Fashion", said: "It is unfortunate that there is no Indian cinema (here). They are looking for strong content... He (a festival official I met) told me the audience is very different here in Cannes, so they have to choose the best one.

"We need to have strong content like the cinema of (Satyajit) Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, which basically has the Cannes value... That is very necessary for a filmmaker. More and more people should go for content and subjects that are more real and earthy because they want to see that cinema over here... I think we have lacked that from the last six, seven years.

"It's unfortunate (that there are no Indian films at Cannes this time), but we have to focus on the content, the local issues of our country."

Bhandarkar said the government has a promising vision for the film industry.

"I've interacted with Minister of Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathoreji a lot and he is definitely looking very positive about pushing the envelope for (Indian) cinema globally.

"We are the largest film producing nations across the world, so I am very positive about the push they want to give. They are all out to have collaborations, they want film festivals to grow more, they want our cinema to be seen more."

Both Bhandarkar and Rawail stressed on the importance of regional cinema and its quality.